Feeding mechanism.



F. WAITE.

PBBDING MEGHAMSM.

APPLIOATION FILED MAB.. 30, 1907.

913,929. Patented Mar. 2, 1909.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Snucufoz F. WAITB. FEEDING MBCHANISM.

APPLIOATION FILED MAB.. 30, 1907.

Patented Mar.2,119o9.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

F. WAITE.

FBEDING MBGHANISM.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

F. WAITE.

EEDING MEGHANISM.

APPLIOATIQN FILED L1A-BAO, 1907.

Patented Mar. 2, 1909.

8 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

I'. WAITE.

FEEDING MBUHANISM.

APPLIOLTION FIILBD MAB. so, 1907.

Patented Mar. 2, 1909.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

. P. WAITB. FEBDING MECHANISM. APPLIUATION FILED MAB. 30,^1907.

91 3,929.I Patented Mar. 2', 1909.

6 SHEETS-SHEET QUihncooco UNITED STATES FRED WAITE, OF OTLEY, ENGLAND.

FEEDING MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 2, 1909.

Application filed March 30, 1907. Serial No. 365,546. i

To all 'whom 'it may concern:

Beit known that I, FRED VVAiTE, a subject of the King of England, residing at Otley, in the county ofYoi-k, England, have invented certain new and useful lm rovements in Feeding Mechanisms, of whic 1 the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing,

The invention relates to automatic feeding mechanisms'such as are applied to printing presses and the like in order to feed sheets one at a time from a pile of sheets upon the feed'table. Heretofore, in automatic feeders of this sort, it would often happen that more than one sheet would be fed from the pile and delivered into the ress at a single operation of the feeding mec anisin.

The object of the invention is accordingly to provide a feeding mechanism oi' device of this character in which the possibility of feeding more than one sheet at a time shall be reduced to a minimum.

The invention will be more fully described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings in which,

'Figure 1 represents, partly in section and partly in side elevation, one embodiment of the im roved feeding mechanism. Fig. 2 is a view o' the same in rear elevation. Fig. 3 is a view, in side elevation, of grippeis and operative mechanism therefor to which the sheets may be delivered from the feeding mechanism. Figs. 4, 5, 6 and 7 are detail views, partly in section and artly in elevation, on a larger scale, illustrating the successive positions of the parts during the feeding of a single sheet. Figs. 8 and 9 are respectively a broken front elevation and broken rear elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 4, and, Fig. 10

ais a detail sectional view of some of the parts in the positions illustrated in Fig.6. Fig. 11 is a detail view showing certain parts separate from the machine, for the purpose of more clearly illustrating the same.

In accordance with the present invention, the pile of sheets to be fed is placed upon a feed table and is subjected to means at the forward and rear ends of the table for picking up, lifting or raising the front and rear ends o the top sheets. These means are preferably pneumatic means, as will be described presently, and as soon as one of them operforming a part hereof.

ates to lift the corresponding edge of the paper, a check, such as a presser-foot, reaches underneath the sheet and down upon the remaining sheets in order to hold them while the top sheet is being delivered. As soon as means for raising the sheet at the other end of the table, which will be called the forward end as it is the end from which the sheet is delivered, o crates to raise the forward end ofthe top siicet so that it can be seized and withdrawn from the feed table by the grippers.x This being the general mode of operation, the particular parts of the present mechanism will now be described.

two side frames 2 are the forward and rearward means for picking up, raising or lifting the top sheet preparatory to its delivery from the ile. sist of roc ring members 3 and 4 respectively, each provided with suction` openingsv 5 whereby the edges of the sheet may be caught and rolled or curled. The forward rockmg member 3. may be mounted in end bearings 60 formed on movable boxes or trucks 6 situated on the free ends of two L-shaped arms 7 carried on a pivoted shaft 8 which, through an arm 9, link 10 and arm 11, is o eratively connected with a cam 12 upon a s aft 13 which constitutes the main shaft of the mechanism. member 3 is raised and lowered at the proper time. ln order to rock this member,I it is provided with a inion 1.4 on one end meshing with a rack orined upon one of the L- s ha ed arms 7, and the boxes or trucks 6 are bot provided with a pivoted arm 1,5 which is operatively connected as shown with a cam 16 on the shaft 13 in order to effect the rocking and thereby the curling or rolling up of the edge of the paper at the proper time.

The rear rocking member 4 is provided with bearings 17 on side arms 18 carried upon a rock shaft 19 pivoted in side standards 20 which are adjustably secured on a verticali reciprocating )latform 21 by means of `ing bolts '22. n order to effect the. rocking of this member 4, it is provided with a pinion 23 which meshes with a rack 2-1 formed upon a bracket 25 horizontalhY movable upon one of the side bars 26 of thi mathese two operations have takemplace, t erl Above the feed table 1 and between the In this way the rocker ehine. This bracket is provided with a slot l' 27 which is engaged by a roller 28 upon one of the standards 20. It will thus be seen a' rod33 and roller 33.

that as the platform 21 moves up and down the rack and pinion will effect the rocking of the member 4. It will also be seen that by simply unloosening the bolts 22, the side standards 20 and the bracket 25 can be readily moved toward or from the front rocker membe'r 3 so as to adjust the device for-different sizes of sheets. The raising and lowering of the platform is easily accom lished through a ca m 61 on the main shaft 13 t rough By com aring Figs. 4 and 5 it will be seen that when t e platform 21 and'st'andards 20 are lowered, the arms 18 will cause the inions 23 to travel on the rack 24 (the-latter ein stationary) thus rocking the member 4. ter ,the edge of the top sheet 1is raised or curled up by the rocker member 4, a presser-foot or other suitable .cheek29 reaches' underneath this edge of the top sheet and bears down upon the remainsheets, as heretofore ex lained. For this purpose, the presseroot may be mounted upon a rock arm 30 having its bearf ings in thel side standards 20 and provided with a roller 31 which cooperates with a cam 32 upon the shaft 19. A spring coiled around the rock arm 30 serves to keep the roller 31 in contact with the cam 32 and a spring coiled around the shaft 19 tends to hold the pinion 23 down u on the rack 24. As the platform 21 is raise and lowered to rock the member 4, the presser-foot will be brought into o erative engagement with the pile of sheets y reaching down underneath the rear end of the to sheet which is raised or curled up by the roc er (Figs. 5 and l0.)

The feed table 1- is mounted on a screw 34 A"guided vertically by bearings 34 and 35 provided in cross stays 36 of the frame, and by a slidingbearing 37 itself guided vertically on depending rods 38 fixed to the lower cross. stay 36. In order to raise the table automatically as the sheets are fed from the top of the pile so as to bring the to sheet in operative position at all times, t -e screw 34 is provided with a nut 39 having ratchet teeth 40 upon its peri hery, which teeth are adapted to be engager by a spring plunger 41 which is operi ated by a cani 42 through the medium of a boli crank lever 43. A s the plunger is thus operated, the nut is rotated to raise the table. Between the end of the plunger and the operative connection to its actuating cam 1s a wedge-shaped or stepped piece 43', the position of which between the plunger and said operative connection depends upon the height or position of the top sheet, said wedge-shaped piece being connected through a system ofy n'mltifilying levers 44 with a feeler arm 45 which rests lightly upon the top sheet.

moved upwardly accor-ling 11o the feeding of .operate a chain gear 47 connected with the Thus. the fable is autornaticallyA the sheets and the rate`of movement of the table will thus obviously be roportionate to the thickness of the sheets W -ch are being fed. A hand wheel 46 may be provided to 7 i nut 39 whereby the table may be moved up or down independently of the automatic tableraising mechanism.

For the purpose of bringing the pile of sheets upon the feed table into proper relation with the operative mechanism at thev outset, the table may be provided with a front guide` or guard '48 and a rear guide or guard .49, the latter being secured to the adjustable side standards 20 and thus movable back and Aforward with said standards. The front guide 48. is fixed and brings the forward. ends of the sheets into proper position to be drawn up by the rocker 3 fromfwhich they are delivered to the gri pers or other suitable mechanism. In t e resent case, suitablegrip er mechanismis lllustrated particularly in ig. 3; It will be seen that grip ers r5() are secured to a slide 51 which travels ack and forth upon horizontal guides 52, being actuated from a crank disk 53 on the main shaft throu h suitable connecting 'links and levers. i 7 indicatesv the position of the parts an the grippers just as the latter are receiving a sheet from -the forward-rocker 3. To permit 'the grippers to engage the sheet, this rocker is rovided with recesses 54 at suitable interva s in i itsforward edge, which recesses the grippers enter to receive the sheets. It Willbe understood that the grippers are opened and closed at the pro er times by suitable mechanism which needp not be specically referred to, as the particular form of delivery mechanism is immaterial to the present invention.

The rockers 3 and 4 preferably have flat under-surfaces and the successive openings referred to above are preferably controlled by plugs 55 in order that they may be closed or opened to adapt the mechanismfor different sizes of sheets or for any other iurpose. The exhaust producing means for t e rockers may be furnished by suitable pumping mechanism, in the resent case consisting of two pumps 56 an( 57 supported u on the 115 lower cross stay and connected to t e rockers respectively by suitable piping. as illustrated. The operation of the mechanism is clearly illustrated in Figs. 4 to l7 inclusive and Fig. 10. In Fig. 4 the parts are in their 120 initial positions. ln Fig. 5 the side standards 2() have moved downward so that the -presser-foot reaches underneath the rear edge of the top sheet which has been raised by the suction A)reduced in the rear rocker. Vl/ith the parts 1n this position, illustrated in Figs. 5 and 10, the forward rocker is slightly rotated thus curling up the forward edge of the top sheet (Fig. 6) and then rhas an upward movement drawing up the front sheet it will be possible dro when the forward rocker rises being vhel in the rear by the presser-foot.

Various modifications may be made in the embodiment of the invention shown and de scribed herein without departing from the spirit of the invention` It should. be mentioned that in many cases to use the forward suction rocker 3 without the rear suction rocker 4 and the presser foot 29 and hence the inventiony is not to be regarded as necessarily limited to a construction in which 'the rear suction rocker and presser' foot are embodied. i

I claim as my invention:

1. In a device for feeding sheets from a ile, the combination of a rocker for operating upon the top of the pile near one" end, bearings for the rocker, and arms ada ted to lift the rocker, the bearings being sida-ble upon the arms and the arms being adapted to en age the rocker to turn it.

2. n a device for feeding sheets from a pile, the combination of a rocker for operating upon the top of the pile near one end, bearings for the rocker, arms upon which the bearings are slidable, the arms being adapted to engage the rocker to turn it, an means to raise said arms.

3. In a device for feeding sheets from a ile, the combination of a rocker for operating upon the top of the pile near one end, bearings for the rocker, arms upon which the bearings are slidable, a inion upon the rocker, a rack upon one o the arms engaging the pinion, means to slide the bearings upon the arms so that the rack will turn the rocker, and means to raise the arms so as to raise the rocker..

4. In a device for feeding sheets from a pile, the combination of a rocker located at one end of the pile having suction holes, an arm at either end of said rocker in which the rockerl is journaled, a similar rocker located at the opposite cud of the pile, au arm at either end of that rocker in which it is ournaled, a presser-foot for one end of the} pife, and means to raise the arms in which the rocker at the other end of the pile is journaled.

5. In a device for feeding sheets from a pile, the combination of a member above one end of the pile having suction holes, levers in which the member is journaled, means to rock said member, a presser-foot, means to operate theA presseroot as the levers are moved, a similar member simi larly mounted above another edge of the pile, and means to rock, raise and lower said member after the presser-foot has operated. 6. An ap aratus for feeding single sheets from a pie, com rising in combination, a vertically adjustable table carrying th` pile of sheets, a rear suction rocker mounted over the upper surface of the said pile near the rear edge thereof adapted to engage and roll or curl up the rear edge of the top sheet, a presser-foot located behind the rear suction rocker adapted to engage and grip the rear portion of the remaining sheets of the pile after the rear edge of the top sheet has een rolled or curled up, and a front suction rocker mounted over the upper surface of the said pile near the forward edge thereof adapted to en age and roll or curl up'the front edge of t e to sheet and then move so as to draw forwar the rear end of the to sheet and bring the front edge of the said top sheet into position ready to be taken by grippers or ot er conveying mechanism.

7. An a paratus for feeding single sheets from a pi e, com risin in combination, a vertically adjusta le ta le carrying the pile of sheets, a rear suction rocker mounted over the up er surface of the said pile near the rear er ge thereof adapted to engage and roll or curl up the rear Iedge of the top sheet, a presser-foot located behind the rear suction rocker adapted to engage and grip the rear portion of the remaining sheets of thegpile after the rear edge of the top sheet has been rolled or curled up, a front suction rocker mounted over the up er surface of the said pile near the forwar ed e thereof adapted to engage and roll or cur of the top sheet and then move so as to draw forward the rear end of the top sheet and bring the front edge of the said `to sheet in advance of the remaining sheets o the pile, and a traveling gripper adapted to take hold of the front edge of the top sheet and deliver it on to the feed plate of t re printing-- press or onto suitable conveyingr mechanism. 8. An a paratus for feeding single sheets vfrom a pi e, com risin in combination, a vertically adjusta le ta le carrying lthe pile of sheets, reciprocating standards, side arms pivoted to said standards, a rear -suction rocker mounted over the upger surface' Vof the said pile near the rear et ge thereof in said side arms, said rear suction rocker being rocked by the lowering of the standards to roll or curl up the rear edge of the said top sheet, a presser-foot carried on the said standards ada ted to engage and rear portion-o the remaining sheets of the ile after the rear edge of the top sheet has been rolled or curled up, a front suction rocker mounted over the u per surface of the said pile near the front e( ge thereof, said front suction rocker being adapted by a.

up the front edge.

grip the backwardmovement vto roll or curl up the 'A This specification signed and witnessed front edge of the said top sheet, and means this 5th day of March, A. 33.1907. rfor raisin said-front suetion rocker to draw FRED WATE forward t e rear end of the top sheet and 5 bring thefront edge of the sald to sheet Signed in the presence 0finto position ready to be taken y the, WILLIAM STEAD, grippers, as set forth. JASON SAVILLE. 

